Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 657

Harry was glad he had escaped from Snape's office.

Or rather, Harry was glad that Tyella's sudden appearance interrupted him.

Because if Tierra had arrived even a second later, he probably would have started arguing with Snape—

In that instant, the instant Snape reprimanded him, Harry suddenly became inexplicably furious.

Even though Snape had scolded him in the same, or even more, way before, Harry felt as if his anger was about to get out of control.

Harry felt both terrified and disgusted by this situation.

He was terrified that his uncontrollable emotions stemmed from Voldemort's influence.

They loathed Snape's acerbic and almost humiliating teaching methods.

"If only I had another teacher to teach me Brain Defense," Harry thought helplessly.

"Tiera?"

Harry's first thought was Tyrell, but he quickly dismissed it—

"No, no, no, I've already asked him twice, and he refused both times. What if he refuses again if I ask him again?" Harry quickly shook his head, denying his own idea.

“But there are so many Tierra. I think it shouldn’t be a problem to have one of them teach me Occlumency.” Harry started to hesitate again.

“But Tyrell has already clearly rejected me twice, and if she rejects me again this time…” Harry hesitated as he stepped onto the stairs leading to the Gryffindor common room.

Harry, preoccupied with figuring out how to get Tyrell to teach him Occlumency, was completely oblivious to Hermione walking down towards him with a book in her arms and her head down, until—

"what--"

"Oh--"

Harry and Hermione ran into a complete mess.

"Hermione?"

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione was knocked back a few steps and fell onto the steps, looking at Harry with some surprise. "Why are you still in the castle so late?"

“I have to go to Snape’s Occlumency class every Saturday night, you forgot, Hermione?” Harry said. “Why are you still wandering around the castle so late?”

"Oh, I'm going to the library to return a book. I borrowed it before Christmas, and it's due soon," Hermione said, waving the book in her hand at Harry.

"The Interpretation of Dreams?" Harry noticed the title and asked curiously, "Didn't Tyella just talk about it yesterday?"

“Oh, I found this book before Christmas and thought it was quite interesting, so I borrowed it to read during the Christmas holidays,” Hermione said. “I thought it was about some kind of dream-entering magic, but…”

"It turns out to be just a Muggle psychology book," Harry said with a laugh, finishing Hermione's sentence.

Hermione chuckled self-deprecatingly.

"By the way, Harry, what are you doing wandering around the castle after all that?" Hermione asked.

"I have Snape's Occlumency class on Saturday night, didn't you forget, Hermione?" she replied with a sigh.

“Oh, right, Harry, sorry, I almost forgot,” Hermione followed up, “How… I mean… how’s it going?”

“Sigh,” Harry sighed, “Honestly, this is terrible.” “Oh, good heavens, that’s so unfortunate,” Hermione asked worriedly, “Did Snape embarrass you?”

“Sigh, I gave it to him.” Harry sighed. “If Tyella hadn’t shown up in time, I almost would have gotten into a fight with him.”

"That bad?" Hermione asked.

“It’s worse than you can imagine,” Harry said.

“That’s really bad.” Hermione said, tugging at Harry’s sleeve. “Come on, Harry, let’s go for a walk in the library.”

“Yes,” Harry nodded in agreement.

Since he was feeling down anyway, going to the library with Hermione seemed like a good idea.

Ever since Harry learned during the Christmas holidays that Hermione was trying to return to that dangerous dream world, Harry has been intentionally or unintentionally avoiding conversations with Hermione.

"So Harry, you almost got into a fight with Snape?" Hermione asked as they walked.

"Hmm," Harry replied listlessly.

"What's the reason?" Hermione asked.

“Nothing,” Harry replied vaguely. “He said bad things about Sirius.”

Harry can't exactly say it's because Snape called him stupid and lazy, can he?

“Oh, okay.” Hermione chuckled awkwardly. “You two seem really incompatible. I really don’t know why Tyrell chose him as your personal tutor.”

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Harry replied.

“Oh, right, Hermione,” Harry suddenly remembered something, “Hmm… has Professor Slughorn been busy lately?”

Harry asked the question reluctantly. He had learned from Tyrell that Hermione had been kicked out of the Philosopher's Stone research group, so asking Hermione if Horace Slughorn was busy made Harry feel a little guilty.

But he had to ask, even though he also disliked Horace Slughorn's excessive enthusiasm, excessive enthusiasm was still better than being humiliated to his face by Snape.

“Ah, I don’t know,” Hermione said, then lowered her head and blushed. “You know… I… I was kicked out of the research group by Tiera because I dreamed about Kadas.”

"What's wrong? You want Slughorn to teach you Occlumency?" Hermione immediately guessed Harry's intention.

“Hmm,” Harry nodded.

“Snape and I just don’t get along,” Harry said. “So I want someone else to teach me.”

“Can’t Tierra do it?” Hermione asked.

“He disagrees. He’s rejected me twice,” Harry said disappointedly.

“So I think Horace Slughorn or Professor Dumbledore might be able to teach me Occlumency,” Harry added.

"Hmm," Hermione gave a long "hmm," "Perhaps you could mention it to Horace during class sometime?"

“I’ve seen him much more often in the Hogwarts corridors since Christmas,” Hermione said. “Maybe he’s had some free time.”

"Sigh," Harry sighed. He found himself sighing more and more lately, almost like a little old man. "Hopefully, I just can't stand learning Occlumency from Snape anymore. He's just incomprehensible!"

(End of this chapter)